Costing about Rs 30,000 crore each, the railways at present are thinking of four high speed corridors and will plan more later. This follows railway minister Lalu Prasad's recent announcement to construct high-speed rail corridors in the coming year.
High-speed rail corridors will come up using the public-private partnership route. The project will involve initiatives by state governments and also private players which are prepared to invest heavily and exploit the situation
Sources indicated that the initial lines would link Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Bangalore or Chennai-Hyderabad and Patna-Kolkata later. The final location of the corridors would be decided once feasibility reports were in, they said, adding, the ministry was in the process of appointing a consultant.This will be the third time the railways are toying with the idea of bullet trains. The main hurdle each time has been a lack of funds as well as inadequate traffic for such high-speed trains.
This time though, the railways seem to have done their homework well. "High-speed rail corridors will come up using the public-private partnership route. The project will involve initiatives by state governments and also private players which are prepared to invest heavily and exploit the situation," Batra said.
The railways are also confident that traffic will not be a problem. "With an over-9% GDP growth, it is obvious that people have more disposable income. They expect quality service and want to save time. High-speed trains are a wonderful option and are the right answer as they are safer and more punctual," another railways official said.
The rail ministry is planning to charge a little less than Rs 4 a kilometre for travel so that bullet trains turn into a profitable venture.
Source: Financial Express
